Sonia to launch 'Zero Landless Project'

Kerala government's ambitious 'Zero Landless Project' aimed at providing land to all landless people in the state by 2015, will be launched by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on September 8, revenue minister Adoor Prakash has said.

Kerala government's ambitious 'Zero Landless Project' aimed at providing land to all landless people in the state by 2015, will be launched by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Thiruvananthapuram on September 8, revenue minister Adoor Prakash has said.

In the first phase, title deeds would be distributed to 17,260 identified beneficiaries in six southern districts upto Ernakulam, the minister said in a release in Thiruvananthapuram.

Gandhi would inaugurate the distribution of title deeds at the central stadium here. A total of 77,306 plots, measuring three cents each, had been identified across the state so far, the minister said.

The location of plots would be fixed through draw of lots to avoid complaints.

Of 2,33,232 families listed as landless in the state, one lakh people would be provided land in the first phase. By 2015,all landless in Kerala would get land, he said.

Surplus land and barren revenue land had been earmarked for implementing the first phase, he said.

Governor Nikhil Kumar, chief minister Oommen Chandy, union ministers AK Antony, Vayalar Ravi, Shashi Tharoor and state ministers would attend the title deeds distribution function.